


High on Love (and Pain Meds)

by bluebirdishere



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Accidental Confession, Dental Procedures, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebirdishere/pseuds/bluebirdishere
Summary: Jon has to get his wisdom teeth out and enlists Martin and Tim to take care of him after the procedure. While under the influence of pain medicine, Jon accidentally lets some things slip regarding his feelings for Martin
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 19
Kudos: 219





	High on Love (and Pain Meds)

**Author's Note:**

> CW for medical/dental-type stuff

“Tim, Sasha, could I see you for a moment, please?”

Martin looked up from his work at the sound of Jon’s voice. The other man was poking his head out of his office, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Uh oh,” Tim said jokingly as he stood up. “Martin, if we don’t come out of there alive, I want you to remember us.”

Sasha rolled her eyes. “I’m sure whatever Jon wants can’t be _that_ bad, Tim.”

“So you agree that it’s probably bad?”

The two bantered until they entered Jon’s office, where the sound of their voices was cut off by the door closing. After a few minutes, the door re-opened, and Sasha came out.

“Your turn,” she said as she passed Martin on the way back to her desk. At his apprehensive look, she added, “It’s nothing bad, don’t worry.”

Still, he took a deep breath before steeling himself and walking to the office. Talking to his boss was nerve-wracking even on the best of days.

Tim and Jon were waiting inside the office, the former looking mostly amused and the latter looking uncomfortable.

“Everything okay?” Martin asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray any of the nervousness he was feeling.

Jon nodded. “Everything’s fine, Martin, I just have a favor to ask of you. You see, I’m having my wisdom teeth removed Saturday morning and will be… heavily medicated after the procedure and in no shape to look after myself, so I’d like two of you to come keep an eye on me. Tim’s already agreed, but Sasha’s busy that day, so would you mind…?”

“Sure,” Martin said a little too quickly. Truthfully, he’d half-expected Jon to send him to wrangle some dangerous artifact, or go explore some haunted locale. Post-surgical care seemed almost mundane in comparison. Taking care of people was something he was at least skilled in, though; years of caring for his sick mother had given him loads of experience in that regard. “What do you need us to do?”

Jon began listing off on his fingers. “You’ll need to pick me up from the dentist’s office and take me back to my flat, make sure I take my pain medication, make sure I eat and drink enough, that sort of thing. And thank you both, for doing all this.”

“Of course. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Martin asked, looking at Tim.

“Nope, should be a piece of cake,” Tim replied with a grin. “If this is anything like the time I got my wisdom teeth out, I think we’ll all get a kick out of seeing you ‘heavily medicated,’” he said, adding air quotes at the end.

Jon scowled at him. “Thanks, it’s very reassuring to know my suffering is amusing to you.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Martin interjected. “You’ll be fine. We’ll take good care of you, _right, Tim_?”

Tim rolled his eyes, but nodded. “Yes, yes, of course we will.” His face softened. “Seriously, Jon, it’ll be okay.”

“Let’s hope so,” Jon muttered to himself.

Saturday morning arrived and Tim and Martin found themselves sitting in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. They sat for about 45 minutes, making conversation, until a nurse came from the back.

“You two are here for Jonathan Sims, right?” she asked them. “He’s just finished, if you want to come back here and see him.”

The two men thanked her and stood up from their chairs to follow her. As they reached the room Jon was in, the nurse stopped.

“Now, I should warn you, he’s pretty out of it,” she said.

“That’s fine,” Tim replied. “I think the two of us can handle him, right Martin?”

Martin nodded. “Definitely.”

The nurse led them into the room and they were greeted with the sight of Jon reclining in a dentist’s chair, looking a million miles away. Tim walked over to peer down at him.

“Hey there, Jon. How you feeling?”

Jon tilted his head to look up at his coworker. “Tim? Issat you?”

Tim smiled. “Yeah, it’s me. Those pain meds did a number on you, huh?”

Jon ignored the question, staring up with wide, horrified eyes. “Tim, y’gotta geh outta here. ‘Ey’re gonna tae your teeth!”

That earned a laugh from the other man. “Don’t worry, no one’s gonna take my teeth.”

“”Ey took m’ teeth! ‘Ey cou’ tae yours too!”

“They won’t. I’d put up too much of a fight.” Tim leaned down to wrap an arm around his boss before slowly bringing him to his feet. “Now, Martin and I are gonna-“

“ _Mar’in’s_ here?!” Jon exclaimed, looking around excitedly. His gaze landed a couple feet away, where Martin was talking to the nurse. He immediately began trying to wriggle out of Tim’s hold. “Mar’in! Mar’in!”

“Whoa! Hold on a sec, boss!” Fortunately, between Jon’s small, skinny frame and the high amount of anesthetic in his system, Tim didn’t have to try very hard to maintain his grip. “Hey Martin, I think he wants to see you!”

Martin looked up from his conversation with the nurse on post-surgical care to see Jon frantically reaching out to him. He apologized and quickly moved over to stand with his colleagues.

“Hey, Jon,” he said, “How are you doing?”

“Ma’rin ‘m happy to see ‘ou.”

It was all Martin could do not to melt. Having a crush on his prickly, closed-off boss was difficult enough when the man was acting… well, prickly and closed-off. Right now, though, Jon was smiling up at him like he’d hung the moon and honestly, how was he supposed to survive against that?

“I’m happy to see you too,“ he said, returning Jon’s smile with one of his own. Jon beamed even wider, his dark eyes unfocused but still shining brightly. It was unfair, how gorgeous his eyes were.

“Tell you what,” Tim began, startling Martin out of his gay panic. “Why don’t you keep an eye on him while I get him checked out and fetch the car.” Before he could object, Martin found his boss being pushed into his arms. He could have sworn he heard snickering as Tim left the room.

Jon wrapped his arms around Martin’s midsection and laid his head against the taller man’s chest. “You’re so sof’ Mar’in.”

“Uh… thank you.” Martin replied, blushing. At this rate, he wasn’t going to last another hour, never mind the rest of the weekend. “C’mon, let’s get you out to the car.”

It was slow going, since Jon seemed more interested in hugging him rather than walking, but eventually the pair made their way to the front of the building. He thanked the nurse and the receptionist as he passed, and they smiled back at him almost knowingly. Finally, they got outside, where Tim was waiting. With a bit of difficulty, Martin managed to wrangle Jon into the back seat of the car and buckle him in. He immediately snuggled into Martin’s side as soon as the taller man was buckled in.

“Alright, before we take him home we gotta stop by the pharmacy and pick up his prescription pain meds so he won’t bee too sore later,” Tim said from the front. He grinned at them in the rearview mirror. “You two lovebirds doing okay back there?”

Blushing, Martin scowled at him. “Shut up, Tim.”

Prescription in hand, the two assistants returned to Jon’s apartment complex and dragged him up to his flat. He was still clinging tightly to Martin, muttering incomprehensible noises into the taller man’s chest.

“Who would’ve thought that being doped up turns him into an octopus?” Tim asked, whipping his phone out to take a quick picture.

“Tim!”

“So!” Tim began, ignoring Martin’s glare. “I’m gonna go grab a pillow and some blankets and then we can set him on the couch.” He disappeared down the hallway, presumably towards Jon’s bedroom. He returned a few minutes later, carrying several blankets and a pillow. He carefully arranged the items on the couch and gestured for Martin to lay Jon down.

“Okay Jon, I’m just gonna put you down right here, alright?” Martin gently removed Jon’s arms from his sides and began to sit him down. As he did so, Jon looked up, pupils blown wide in alarm.

“Mar’in?!” He struggled against his assistant’s grip, looking a bit like a kicked puppy. “No Mar’in I wanna cuddle ‘ou!”

Martin felt his heart break a little at the sight in front of him. “Alright, alright, just let me get you situated and then we can keep cuddling.” Despite Jon’s best efforts, Martin managed to get him tucked under the blankets. As soon as he finished, Martin sat down, and was immediately accosted by his boss again. He heard snickering and looked up to glare at Tim again.

“Sorry,” Tim said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. “It’s just pretty cute, that’s all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Martin grumbled. “Mind getting some food for him so we can give him his pain meds?”

“Certainly.” Tim went into the kitchen to check out their options. Looking through the pantry, he was relieved to see that Jon had had the sense to go out and buy plenty of easy-to-eat foods in preparation. He grabbed a can of tomato soup and poured the contents in a bowl, bringing it out to the couch when he was done.

“Okay boss, time for lunch,” he said, holding the spoon up to Jon’s mouth since the man didn’t seem capable of feeding himself at the moment.

Jon stared skeptically at the spoon before turning his head away and grumbling something Tim didn’t catch.

“Jon, c’mon, you’ll feel better once you’ve eaten,” Martin said. When he received no response, he sighed. “Here, let me…?”

Tim handed him the bowl and he carefully took it with one hand, using the other to lightly tap Jon on the shoulder. “Please Jon, just eat a little bit?” Still no response. He sighed again, schooling his face into a serious expression. _Time to play dirty_.

“Jon, if you won’t eat your soup, then we can’t cuddle anymore.”

_That_ got Jon’s attention, and he turned to stare up at Martin with a comically horrified expression. When he saw the stern look on Martin’s face, he wilted.

“…Fih, I’ll ea’.”

“Thank you.” Martin took the spoon and gently lifted it to Jon’s mouth, and the archivist reluctantly allowed himself to be fed. It was a somewhat messy endeavor, given that his mouth was still numb, but he managed to make it most of the way through the bowl before deciding he’d had enough and turning his head away again.

“All done?” Martin asked.

“Mmhhm.”

“Okay. Good job.” He handed the bowl back to Tim, who stuck it in the kitchen before retrieving the painkillers and a glass of water.

“Alright, you gotta take your meds so you won’t be in too much pain later, and then you can relax,” Martin said in a soft voice.

“Alrigh’.” Tim poured a couple pills into Jon’s hand, and he swallowed them as the glass of water was pressed to his lips. Once he was done, he laid his head back against Martin’s chest.

“Feeling better?”

“Mhmm.”

“Good,” Martin replied quietly, rubbing circles into Jon’s back and trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks. After a couple minutes, Jon looked back up, a goofy smile on his face.

“Mar’in?”

“Yes?”

“May I kiss ‘ou?”

Martin froze. _There’s… there’s no way he actually-_ “Sorry, did you just ask if you could _kiss_ me?”

“Uh huh,” Jon said, still looking at him with a dopey grin. “I wann’ kiss ‘ou cause yer pretty, an’ nice, an’ ‘ou gimme tea, bu’ I though’ I shou’ _as’_ firs’.”

“Uh, I, um,” Martin spluttered. His face felt like it was on fire, and he was pretty certain that at any moment, his heart would explode out of his chest. His throat felt tight enough that he didn’t think he could speak (not that he could come up with a coherent response anyway; all of his brainpower was being used to try and process the fact that _Jonathan Sims_ just asked to kiss him.)

“Mar’in?” Jon’s smile was gone, replaced by confusion. “Whas wron’?”

“I think you broke him, Jon.” Martin’s gaze snapped over to Tim, who was standing near the couch with a shocked expression.

“N-no, I-I’m fine, I, I just-“ Martin gulped, looking back at Jon. “I just think that, ah, maybe that’s not a great idea right now?” While he did very much want to kiss Jon, he didn’t want to do so while the other man was under the influence of pain meds and not in a coherent state of mind. It didn’t feel right.

He’d tried to be gentle with the rejection, but judging by Jon’s absolutely heartbroken expression, it hadn’t worked.

“Yuh don’ wann kiss me?” Jon asked, upper lip trembling a little. “Isit cause ‘m so mean to ‘ou alla time?”

“No, no! Nothing like that!” Martin backpedaled, trying to calm him down. Last thing they needed was for Jon to have a breakdown. “I-I do wanna kiss you, I just think we should, you know, maybe wait until you’ve taken a nap first, since you’ve had such a long day and all.”

“Oh.” Jon’s face brightened considerably, and he smiled again. “Ca’ I kiss ‘ou afder I wake up?”

“Sure, sure,” Martin said hurriedly. “Right now, though, you should really sleep.”

“Alrigh’.” Jon shifted so that he was lying on the couch, rather than on Martin. As he removed his glasses and rested his head against the pillow, he sighed. “G’nigh Mar’in.”

“…Goodnight, Jon.”

Once he was sure Jon was asleep, Martin put his head in his hands and quietly groaned.

“So…” He looked up at Tim, whose look of shock had been replaced with discomfort. “That happened.”

Martin’s only response was a humorless laugh.

The pair sat in awkward silence for several moments. The tension in the air was heavy enough that Martin thought it might crush him.

“Did you mean it?” Tim asked softly. “When you said you wanted to kiss him?”

“…Yeah. I did,” Martin admitted.

“Huh.” Tim went quiet, expression thoughtful. After a minute, he piped up again. “You should ask him out. You know, after the drugs wear off.”

Martin stared at him in horror. “Nope. Not happening.”

“Why not? You like him, and he clearly likes you.”

“That’s just the pain meds talking,” Martin muttered, downcast. “He barely tolerates me as it is. If he found out I fancied him, I’d be out of a job before the end of the day.”

“Even if he did reject you, I don’t think he’d be _that_ nasty about it-” Tim said.

“Well, we won’t know either way, because I’m not going to ask him out,” Martin shot back. “Look, I’m sorry, but I’d really rather not have this conversation, okay?”

“…Fine.”

“Thank you.”

As Martin looked down at the floor again, Tim suppressed a smirk. _No way I’m letting this go so easily._

Jon opened his eyes and groaned. His head felt foggy and his jaws ached.

“How you feeling, Sleeping Beauty?”

He turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw a Tim-shaped blob sitting in a nearby armchair.

“Um… not great,” Jon admitted. He sat up, reaching around for his glasses. When he found them, he quickly put them back on and turned to face his coworker again.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Just past 5 p.m.,” Tim replied. “Can I get anything for you?”

“Some water would be nice, please.”

Tim got up to fetch him a glass of water, which he gratefully took. The cool liquid rushed down his throat, easing the dryness that had been there previously.

“Out of curiosity, do you remember anything that happened after we picked you up?” Tim asked, wearing an unreadable expression.

Jon thought back over the course of the day. He remembered getting ready that morning, taking the tube to the dentist’s, going into the back and being given anesthetic… but everything between then and now was pretty much nonexistent.

“No,” he replied, feeling dread creep up in his gut. “Why? I didn’t say or do anything too bad, did I?”

Tim leaned back in the armchair, grinning. “Nope, you absolutely did not say or do anything bad.”

The words only served to fuel Jon’s rising panic. “ _What did I do, Tim?”_

“Oh, nothing _that_ terrible,” Tim replied with a wave of his hand. “You only latched onto Martin like a koala.”

“Oh,” Jon said, dumbfounded. “Okay, that’s- that’s bad, but at least it’s not-“

“ _And_ you told him you wanted to kiss him.”

There was a heavy silence while Jon tried to process that statement. When he did…

“I said _what?!_ ” he yelled. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Nope. Serious as a heart attack,” Tim said, still grinning.

Jon rubbed a hand over his face and groaned again. This was _exactly_ why he hadn’t wanted Martin around after the procedure, but of _course_ Sasha had already had plans for the day, and of _course_ Tim had insisted on roping Martin into it because “it’ll be easier with two people”. Jon had reluctantly agreed because he didn’t want to admit that he feared saying or doing something stupid around his crush, and he wasn’t a skilled enough liar to refute Tim’s suggestion without it coming across as suspicious.

“Hey, c’mon boss, it’s not the end of the world,” Tim said, eyes gleaming mischievously. “Unless… you actually _do_ want to kiss him?”

“Will you be _quiet_ already?” Jon snapped.

“I’m not hearing a no-“

“ _Tim!_ ”

Tim laughed before quickly sobering up. “Seriously, if you fancy him, you should ask him out.”

Jon sighed. “I absolutely will _not_ be- hang on. Where is he, anyway?”

“He went back to his flat shortly after you passed out,” Tim said. “Said he had some things he needed to take care of.”

“More like he didn’t want to be around me,” Jon muttered.

Tim gave him a look. “Hey now, none of that. You didn’t do anything wrong-“

“I told him I wanted to _kiss_ him-“

“-and even if you did, you were on a _lot_ of pain killers. I think you get a pass.”

Jon glowered before going quiet, lost in thought. He should… apologize to Martin, shouldn’t he? True, he didn’t really want to face Martin right now, and he doubted the other man wanted to see him, but it was either that or sit in the archives and suffocate under their mutual discomfort. Or flee the country. He could quit his job, burn all his bridges and move somewhere far away- no, he should probably just apologize, even if it was the most difficult out of all his options.

His mind made up, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m going to text him and apologize.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Trust me boss, I really don’t think he’s as bothered by this as you think he is.”

“I suppose we’ll find out soon, won’t we,” Jon muttered as he opened his phone’s messaging app.

As he finished up dusting, Martin felt his phone buzz in his pocket. _That’s probably Tim_ , he thought. He felt a little bad about abandoning his coworker to watch over their boss alone, but he didn’t think he’d be able to handle being around Jon once he woke up. Tim, thankfully, had been very understanding, and had promised to text Martin updates. He pulled out his phone to read the newest development, but felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the name on the notification. He frantically opened his phone to read the message.

**_Jon_ ** _: Martin, I’ve been informed that while I was under the influence of the pain medicine, I said and did some things that likely made you highly uncomfortable, and for that I apologize. I did not intend to say or do those things, and I’ll understand if you don’t want to be around me right now._

There were three speech bubbles present on the screen, indicating Jon was still typing, and Martin rushed to type out a response.

_Honestly Jon, it’s fine. I know it was the pain meds talking. You didn’t make me uncomfortable._

The typing paused while Jon read the message, then resumed again a few seconds later.

_Tim said you left after I fell asleep. I assumed you didn’t want to be around me._

_It wasn’t anything like that, I promise! I really did just have some things around my flat that needed to be taken care of. Don’t beat yourself up about this._

_I think I’m entitled to feel bad about harassing my assistant._

_You didn’t “harass” me!_

_You don’t consider being groped and asked to kiss your boss harassment?_

_It wasn’t groping, it was basically just hugging. And it’s not like you just went ahead and kissed me, you had the decency to ask first. It was actually kinda cute._

_I’m hardly “cute.”_

_If you say so :p_

_I do._

_Well, I say it was cute._

_Hmmph._

_I assume you said no, though? To kissing me?_

_Of course. I don’t wanna kiss someone who’s not of sound mind._

Martin sent the message without thinking, before immediately doing a double take at what he’d written. He’d basically just admitted he was fine with the idea of kissing Jon, it was just the whole “state of mind” part he had problems with. That was all true, of course, but he didn’t want Jon to _know_ that. He looked down at the phone and saw the speech bubbles pop up, only to disappear, and then resume again a few seconds later. He wanted to turn the phone off, or throw it across the room, or do anything other than just stare at it helplessly, but he felt paralyzed. Finally, after an agonizingly long wait, he received another text.

_…Does that mean you’d want to kiss me if I was of sound mind?_

Martin read over the text before forcing his trembling hands to type out a response.

_…Yeah. It does._

He’d already dug himself deep enough, might as well dig a little deeper, right? He leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. As he was pondering what sorts of jobs he could get with archiving experience, he felt his phone vibrate again. He opened the new message and his heart skipped another beat, but for a different reason this time.

_Good, because now that I have all my mental faculties I would, in fact, rather like to kiss you._

Jon paced anxiously around his living room as he waited for Martin to arrive. He’d nearly had a heart attack when Martin admitted he wanted to kiss him. The idea was so shocking, so wonderful, that Jon almost believed he was still asleep and none of this was happening.

Tim, of course, had been absolutely insufferable after he’d learned what happened (“I told you he wasn’t bothered by it!”), and Jon dreaded having to see him on Monday. Still, he was the one who encouraged the archivist to go and “get his man” (Tim’s words), and he’d been a good sport about being banished from the flat, so Jon probably couldn’t be _too_ annoyed with him.

Martin had left his flat quickly after being invited back over, and he’d texted a few minutes ago to say he’d be there shortly, so now all Jon could do was wait. Too full of nervous energy to sit still, he’d begun pacing, and some small part of his brain dimly hoped he wasn’t annoying his downstairs neighbors too much. As he was wondering how long it would take to make a whole in the floor, there was a knock at the door. He scrambled to open it, pulling it open with more force than was necessary. On the other side stood Martin, looking somewhat startled.

“Hi,” he squeaked out.

“Hi,” Jon echoed back. He cleared his throat and gestured inside. “Please, come in.”

Martin quickly entered and removed his shoes before sitting down on the couch. Jon joined him, and the pair stared awkwardly at each other for several moments, each unsure of how to make the first move. Finally, Martin broke the silence.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” he asked.

Jon felt his heart sink. “If- if I misread your text and you don’t actually feel that way about me-“

“No!” Martin interrupted. “No, I, I really do quite like you Jon, honest. I’m just worried about aggravating your mouth given that, you know, you had surgery on it this morning.”

“Oh. Right.” In his excitement and nervousness, Jon had forgotten that little detail. “We could just do one small kiss, maybe?”

“Yeah,” Martin said. “Yeah, that should be fine, right?”

“Mmm.” With that, Jon closed his eyes and leaned forward, tentatively closing the gap between their mouths. Martin’s lips were surprisingly soft, and he tasted like a mixture of tea and strawberries. As they kissed, Jon felt a pleasant warmth settle in his chest, and he involuntarily let out a small whine when he felt Martin pull away.

“Nope, that’s all you get for tonight. We’re trying to avoid upsetting your wounds, remember?”

He opened his eyes to glare at Martin, who was sitting there with a cheeky expression that was somewhat undercut by the ferocious blush adorning his face.

Jon huffed. “Fine, but you could at least stay here tonight to make up for it.”

Martin put a hand to his chest with a faux-scandalized expression. “Why, Mister Sims, inviting an unmarried man to spend the night with you? Whatever will the neighbors think?”

That got a laugh out of Jon. “Yes, well, we do have a lot to discuss, and I’d hate to make you travel all the way back to your flat after you only got one measly kiss.”

Martin smiled at him. “Awfully considerate of you.”

“Yes, yes,” Jon waved the thought away with a hand before leaning forward again. “I know you’re insisting on just the one kiss, but is cuddling okay?”

“More than okay,” Martin shifted so that he was laying down on the couch face-up. Once he was settled, he opened his arms, an invitation for Jon to join him. Jon eagerly did so, lying on top of him and burying his face in his chest. Martin brought his hands up to rest on Jon’s back, letting out a sigh of contentment.

“So it wasn’t just the pain meds, then?” he asked. “You really _are_ a koala?”

“Oh shut up, you,” Jon grumbled, though there wasn’t any heat behind the words, and Martin laughed.

They still had a lot to talk about regarding their relationship, but for now, they could just lie there and enjoy each other’s company. And if they fell asleep cuddling on the couch, well, no one else needed to know.


End file.
